The Kubernetes Helm project accepts contributions via GitHub pull requests. This document outlines the process to help get your contribution accepted.
Most of the time, when you find a bug in Helm, it should be reported using GitHub issues. However, if you are reporting a security vulnerability, please email a report to [email protected]. This will give us a chance to try to fix the issue before it is exploited in the wild.
The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for a commit. All commits needs to be signed. Your signature certifies that you wrote the patch or otherwise have the right to contribute the material. The rules are pretty simple, if you can certify the below (from developercertificate.org):
Developer Certificate of Origin
Version 1.1
Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors.
1 Letterman Drive
Suite D4700
San Francisco, CA, 94129
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
have the right to submit it under the open source license
indicated in the file; or
(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
license and I have the right under that license to submit that
work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
in the file; or
(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
it.
(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
this project or the open source license(s) involved.
Then you just add a line to every git commit message:
Signed-off-by: Joe Smith <[email protected]>
Use your real name (sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions.)
If you set your user.name and user.email git configs, you can sign your
commit automatically with git commit -s.
Note: If your git config information is set properly then viewing the
git log information for your commit will look something like this:
Author: Joe Smith <[email protected]>
Date: Thu Feb 2 11:41:15 2018 -0800
Update README
Signed-off-by: Joe Smith <[email protected]>
Notice the Author and Signed-off-by lines match. If they don't
your PR will be rejected by the automated DCO check.
Whether you are a user or contributor, official support channels include:
- GitHub issues
- Slack Kubernetes Slack:
- User: #helm-users
- Contributor: #helm-dev
Before opening a new issue or submitting a new pull request, it's helpful to search the project - it's likely that another user has already reported the issue you're facing, or it's a known issue that we're already aware of.
We use milestones to track progress of releases. There are also 2 special milestones
used for helping us keep work organized: Upcoming - Minor and Upcoming - Major
Upcoming - Minor is used for keeping track of issues that aren't assigned to a specific
release but could easily be addressed in a minor release. Upcoming - Major keeps track
of issues that will need to be addressed in a major release. For example, if the current
version is 2.2.0 an issue/PR could fall in to one of 4 different active milestones:
2.2.1, 2.3.0, Upcoming - Minor, or Upcoming - Major. If an issue pertains to a
specific upcoming bug or minor release, it would go into 2.2.1 or 2.3.0. If the issue/PR
does not have a specific milestone yet, but it is likely that it will land in a 2.X release,
it should go into Upcoming - Minor. If the issue/PR is a large functionality add or change
and/or it breaks compatibility, then it should be added to the Upcoming - Major milestone.
An issue that we are not sure we will be doing will not be added to any milestone.
A milestone (and hence release) is considered done when all outstanding issues/PRs have been closed or moved to another milestone.
Helm maintains a strong commitment to backward compatibility. All of our changes to protocols and formats are backward compatible from Helm 2.0 until Helm 3.0. No features, flags, or commands are removed or substantially modified (other than bug fixes).
We also try very hard to not change publicly accessible Go library definitions inside of the pkg/ directory of our source code.
For a quick summary of our backward compatibility guidelines for releases between 2.0 and 3.0:
- Protobuf and gRPC changes MUST be backward compatible.
- Command line commands, flags, and arguments MUST be backward compatible
- File formats (such as Chart.yaml, repositories.yaml, and requirements.yaml) MUST be backward compatible
- Any chart that worked on a previous version of Helm MUST work on a new version of Helm (barring the cases where (a) Kubernetes itself changed, and (b) the chart worked because it exploited a bug)
- Chart repository functionality MUST be backward compatible
- Go libraries inside of
pkg/SHOULD remain backward compatible (though code inside ofcmd/may be changed from release to release without notice).
Issues are used as the primary method for tracking anything to do with the Helm project.
There are 4 types of issues (each with their own corresponding label):
- Question: These are support or functionality inquiries that we want to have a record of for future reference. Generally these are questions that are too complex or large to store in the Slack channel or have particular interest to the community as a whole. Depending on the discussion, these can turn into "Feature" or "Bug" issues.
- Proposal: Used for items (like this one) that propose a new ideas or functionality that require a larger community discussion. This allows for feedback from others in the community before a feature is actually developed. This is not needed for small additions. Final word on whether or not a feature needs a proposal is up to the core maintainers. All issues that are proposals should both have a label and an issue title of "Proposal: [the rest of the title]." A proposal can become a "Feature" and does not require a milestone.
- Features: These track specific feature requests and ideas until they are complete. They can evolve from a "Proposal" or can be submitted individually depending on the size.
- Bugs: These track bugs with the code or problems with the documentation (i.e. missing or incomplete)
The issue lifecycle is mainly driven by the core maintainers, but is good information for those contributing to Helm. All issue types follow the same general lifecycle. Differences are noted below.
- Issue creation
- Triage
- The maintainer in charge of triaging will apply the proper labels for the issue. This includes labels for priority, type, and metadata (such as "starter"). The only issue priority we will be tracking is whether or not the issue is "critical." If additional levels are needed in the future, we will add them.
- (If needed) Clean up the title to succinctly and clearly state the issue. Also ensure that proposals are prefaced with "Proposal".
- Add the issue to the correct milestone. If any questions come up, don't worry about adding the issue to a milestone until the questions are answered.
- We attempt to do this process at least once per work day.
- Discussion
- "Feature" and "Bug" issues should be connected to the PR that resolves it.
- Whoever is working on a "Feature" or "Bug" issue (whether a maintainer or someone from the community), should either assign the issue to them self or make a comment in the issue saying that they are taking it.
- "Proposal" and "Question" issues should stay open until resolved or if they have not been
active for more than 30 days. This will help keep the issue queue to a manageable size and
reduce noise. Should the issue need to stay open, the
keep openlabel can be added.
- Issue closure
- Fork the repo, develop and test your code changes.
- Use sign-off when making each of your commits (see above). If you forgot to sign some commits that are part of the contribution, you can ask git to rewrite your commit history.
- Submit a pull request.
Coding conventions and standards are explained in the official developer docs: Developers Guide
The next section contains more information on the workflow followed for PRs
Like any good open source project, we use Pull Requests to track code changes
- PR creation
- We more than welcome PRs that are currently in progress. They are a great way to keep track of important work that is in-flight, but useful for others to see. If a PR is a work in progress, it must be prefaced with "WIP: [title]". Once the PR is ready for review, remove "WIP" from the title.
- It is preferred, but not required, to have a PR tied to a specific issue.
- Triage
- The maintainer in charge of triaging will apply the proper labels for the issue. This should
include at least a size label,
bugorfeature, andawaiting reviewonce all labels are applied. See the Labels section for full details on the definitions of labels - Add the PR to the correct milestone. This should be the same as the issue the PR closes.
- The maintainer in charge of triaging will apply the proper labels for the issue. This should
include at least a size label,
- Assigning reviews
- Once a review has the
awaiting reviewlabel, maintainers will review them as schedule permits. The maintainer who takes the issue should self-request a review. - Reviews from others in the community, especially those who have encountered a bug or have requested a feature, are highly encouraged, but not required. Maintainer reviews are required before any merge
- Any PR with the
size/largelabel requires 2 review approvals from maintainers before it can be merged. Those withsize/mediumare per the judgement of the maintainers
- Once a review has the
- Reviewing/Discussion
- Once a maintainer begins reviewing a PR, they will remove the
awaiting reviewlabel and add thein progresslabel so the person submitting knows that it is being worked on. This is especially helpful when the review may take awhile. - All reviews will be completed using Github review tool.
- A "Comment" review should be used when there are questions about the code that should be answered, but that don't involve code changes. This type of review does not count as approval.
- A "Changes Requested" review indicates that changes to the code need to be made before they will be merged.
- Reviewers should update labels as needed (such as
needs rebase)
- Once a maintainer begins reviewing a PR, they will remove the
- Address comments by answering questions or changing code
- Merge or close
- PRs should stay open until merged or if they have not been active for more than 30 days.
This will help keep the PR queue to a manageable size and reduce noise. Should the PR need
to stay open (like in the case of a WIP), the
keep openlabel can be added. - If the owner of the PR is listed in
OWNERS, that user must merge their own PRs or explicitly request another OWNER do that for them. - If the owner of a PR is not listed in
OWNERS, any core committer may merge the PR once it is approved.
- PRs should stay open until merged or if they have not been active for more than 30 days.
This will help keep the PR queue to a manageable size and reduce noise. Should the PR need
to stay open (like in the case of a WIP), the
Documentation PRs will follow the same lifecycle as other PRs. They will also be labeled with the
docs label. For documentation, special attention will be paid to spelling, grammar, and clarity
(whereas those things don't matter as much for comments in code).
Each week, one of the core maintainers will serve as the designated "triager" starting after the public standup meetings on Thursday. This person will be in charge triaging new PRs and issues throughout the work week.
The following tables define all label types used for Helm. It is split up by category.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
bug |
Marks an issue as a bug or a PR as a bugfix |
critical |
Marks an issue or PR as critical. This means that addressing the PR or issue is top priority and will be handled first by maintainers |
docs |
Indicates the issue or PR is a documentation change |
duplicate |
Indicates that the issue or PR is a duplicate of another |
feature |
Marks the issue as a feature request or a PR as a feature implementation |
keep open |
Denotes that the issue or PR should be kept open past 30 days of inactivity |
refactor |
Indicates that the issue is a code refactor and is not fixing a bug or adding additional functionality |
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
help wanted |
This issue is one the core maintainers cannot get to right now and would appreciate help with |
proposal |
This issue is a proposal |
question/support |
This issue is a support request or question |
starter |
This issue is a good for someone new to contributing to Helm |
wont fix |
The issue has been discussed and will not be implemented (or accepted in the case of a proposal) |
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
awaiting review |
The PR has been triaged and is ready for someone to review |
breaking |
The PR has breaking changes (such as API changes) |
in progress |
Indicates that a maintainer is looking at the PR, even if no review has been posted yet |
needs pick |
Indicates that the PR needs to be picked into a feature branch (generally bugfix branches). Once it has been, the picked label should be applied and this one removed |
needs rebase |
A helper label used to indicate that the PR needs to be rebased before it can be merged. Used for easy filtering |
picked |
This PR has been picked into a feature branch |
Size labels are used to indicate how "dangerous" a PR is. The guidelines below are used to assign the
labels, but ultimately this can be changed by the maintainers. For example, even if a PR only makes
30 lines of changes in 1 file, but it changes key functionality, it will likely be labeled as size/large
because it requires sign off from multiple people. Conversely, a PR that adds a small feature, but requires
another 150 lines of tests to cover all cases, could be labeled as size/small even though the number
lines is greater than defined below.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
size/small |
Anything less than or equal to 4 files and 150 lines. Only small amounts of manual testing may be required |
size/medium |
Anything greater than size/small and less than or equal to 8 files and 300 lines. Manual validation should be required. |
size/large |
Anything greater than size/medium. This should be thoroughly tested before merging and always requires 2 approvals. This also should be applied to anything that is a significant logic change. |